20 Injured, 2 Vehicles Torched After Violence In Rajsamand

Udaipur : Tension prevailed at Kharandiya and Sapol villages of Rajsamand district after an incident of violence and arson between Godman Asaram’s supporters and villagers broke out on Sunday morning. Some 20 people were injured in the incident and two vehicles was torched by the mob. Police reached the scene and the fire fighters were called in who later controlled the fires. A large force has been deployed at both the villages to contain the situation. “ Situation is under control and there is nothing to fear” said K.C Verma, the collector.

The incident sparked off after a religious procession which was organized by Shri Yog Vedanta Seva Samiti at the district headquarters on Sunday morning. Later the Samiti had arranged for a feast at Kharandiya village. The Samiti members and Asaram supporters who were seated in a bus while passing through Kharandiya village were interrupted by a pipeline at a construction site in the middle of the road. When the supporters asked the land owner to remove the obstacle, Karan Singh, the owner allegedly passed some lewd remarks on the Godman which infuriated the supporters. They beat Karan Singh badly, meanwhile some villagers and his family members ran to rescue Singh. They chased the vehicles in which the supporters had fled and held them at Sapol village. The villagers torched a tempo and bus in which large quantity of food and literature had been kept. Firefighters took more than an hour to hold the flames.

Many of Asaram supporters including woman told to be from Surat, Delhi, Barmer, Haryana etc sustained severe injuries while few of the villagers too were badly injured. SP Shweta Dhankhad, Additional SP Sudheer Joshi and police teams from Nathdwara and Kumbalgarh rushed to the spot from where all the injured were taken to the district hospital. Sensing tension, both the groups were treated at separate wards. Meanwhile the food made for the feast was later transported amid police escort to the Ashram situated at Amet.